Today's radio-based electronic devices often require a multitude of calibration and testing steps in the final steps of production. These steps are performed not only to ensure proper assembly and functionality, but to likewise meet regulatory and customer requirements. Currently, these calibration and testing steps require each radio-based device to be connected to a manufacturing interface apparatus or fixtures that are part of what is commonly known as a test station. Each test station is typically comprised of equipment consisting of test instruments assembled into a rack of substantial size and mass that resides on the production floor. The battery of calibration and test steps that these test stations perform on each radio-based device are designed to ensure traceability, accuracy of calibration, and proper performance.
However, such calibration and test procedures usually require human operators to be present to load and off load the test stations, initiate procedures, and execute decisions based on results. Each test procedure takes time and resources to execute and production environments require that there be enough test stations to optimize manufacturing throughput and prevent production bottlenecks. As a result, it is not uncommon for many test stations to be present and collocated on the production floor. Additionally, the burden of radio front-end testing and calibration manifests itself not only in terms of direct labor costs, but also in capital costs associated with instrumentation, which typically requires ongoing upgrading and maintenance. Likewise, execution time is a factor, where production throughput is a function of number of test stations, global manufacturing capabilities, and associated engineering support. Furthermore, different radio-based devices often require unique fixturing or test instruments that are specific to the device itself. Moreover, new features are introduced as new radio platforms are produced, with corresponding requirements for new calibration and test procedures.
It is currently well known that radio-based devices in the field are subject to many diverse operational conditions relating to the radio channel, interfering signals, loss of signal, noise, as well as platform related issues such as software, firmware or hardware related faults. However, radio-based devices are currently required to be tethered to a test station to perform a test or calibration procedure as opposed to performing tests and calibration procedures anywhere and at any time. Accordingly, an onboard, self-test capability that provides an ability to invoke a test remotely, or to recognize and capture a fault as it occurs, would be advantageous to pinpointing its cause and determining a corrective action. However, no current approach exists to remotely initiate a radio front-end test that reads and records such information, which prevents realizing the benefits of in situ testing capabilities that could be remotely executed.